Minnesota vs. Wisconsin - AAA Championship?

WJB · Post by **WJB** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 3:09 pm

I was directed to this site via a few people I know to get involved in what I would call a "Blog Bashing." I would rather not get into this, but instead and as the Owner of the WI Jr. Badgers, I would propose we turn things into a fair, fun, head to head competition and settle things on the ice. What a great event for the players and the parents and "bloggers" out there. Win or Lose, I think it would be a great experience to make this an ANNUAL event.

Date: June 5th-6th? or TBD
Location: TBD

00, 99, 98, 97 Levels.

MN picks the best players & puts together (1) team at each level and WI does the same?

I'm not bringing this up for any reason other than creating a fun, competitive experience for all, so I would appreciate & respect that there is NO other strings attached.

It might even be fun to have it held at a nice arena and offer announcers, line ups, etc.

What a neat thing to offer each other's kids in State to State competition!

Let me know who is willing to take this on and we can work together to put it together.

Thx

Haute hockeymom · Post by **Haute hockeymom** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 4:11 pm

still trying to recover from your last bad idea.

What next? A phoney "AAA Elite" League

bleedingblue · Post by **bleedingblue** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 4:57 pm

WJB wrote:I was directed to this site via a few people I know to get involved in what I would call a "Blog Bashing." I would rather not get into this, but instead and as the Owner of the WI Jr. Badgers, I would propose we turn things into a fair, fun, head to head competition and settle things on the ice. What a great event for the players and the parents and "bloggers" out there. Win or Lose, I think it would be a great experience to make this an ANNUAL event.

Date: June 5th-6th? or TBD
Location: TBD

00, 99, 98, 97 Levels.

MN picks the best players & puts together (1) team at each level and WI does the same?

I'm not bringing this up for any reason other than creating a fun, competitive experience for all, so I would appreciate & respect that there is NO other strings attached.

It might even be fun to have it held at a nice arena and offer announcers, line ups, etc.

What a neat thing to offer each other's kids in State to State competition!

Let me know who is willing to take this on and we can work together to put it together.

Thx

Are you kidding me? This isn't a cheese eating contest..... That's the equivalent of Minnesotans challenging Texas in football....

WJB · Post by **WJB** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 7:46 pm

Only if it's string cheese...

I am actually a Viking Fan. I know, I hear it all the time.... But I am optimistic - they will win the Super Bowl - eventually!.....

It's easy to throw darts via an email, but again, I am only throwing the option out there for the kids. I appologize if some think it is a stupid idea, but I think it would be a great idea and experience for kids to look forward to year after year.

I have already had several contact me with positive ideas about it from MN, so thank you to those who are positive about opportunities for kids. Good luck to all the teams this weekend in the Meltdown.

bleedingblue · Post by **bleedingblue** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 8:16 pm

WJB wrote:Only if it's string cheese... I am actually a Viking Fan. I know, I hear it all the time.... But I am optimistic - they will win the Super Bowl - eventually!.....

It's easy to throw darts via an email, but again, I am only throwing the option out there for the kids. I appologize if some think it is a stupid idea, but I think it would be a great idea and experience for kids to look forward to year after year.

I have already had several contact me with positive ideas about it from MN, so thank you to those who are positive about opportunities for kids. Good luck to all the teams this weekend in the Meltdown.

Sorry WJB, I couldn't resist taking a shot at our neighbors in WI..... I do believe it would be somewhat of a mismatch however. WI typically has 2 or 3 kids per age group that are very good players that can compete with the best in North America..... The problem is depth, players 4-13 in Minny are a lot better...... For whatever reason, WI smack dab in the middle of two great hockey states still lose their best athletes to basketball in the winter....

WJB · Post by **WJB** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 8:53 pm

Yep, our players are spread out all over the state. It does make it difficult to put multiple teams together with solid players on multiple teams at any given age group. Where you have many in the metro alone, we find it difficult to come even close to matching that.
Hats off to MN Hockey for that!

I'd still like to put it together, like I said, win or lose; I think it would be a great thing for the kids & bragging rights for the two states.

My 99 MIN/WIS All Stars play the Machine next thursday in the Stars N Stripes. Should be interesting......

Basketball......tell me about it!

I get sick thinking about it.....

Have a great weekend.

hockeycentral · Post by **hockeycentral** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 2:25 am

well if it is that big of a deal, quit ripping on a guy that is trying to put something together, but then again, i guess every other top AAA club was put together overnight, so quit ripping on a guy that is trying to do something for the kids. Because most of the time this is nothing but parents egos, 10 and 11 year olds do not know anything about this. SO PARENTS, LET IT BE FOR THE KIDS AND LET YOUR EGOS GO

JSR · Post by **JSR** » Sun Apr 26, 2009 9:36 am

bleedingblue wrote:
WJB wrote:Only if it's string cheese... I am actually a Viking Fan. I know, I hear it all the time.... But I am optimistic - they will win the Super Bowl - eventually!.....

It's easy to throw darts via an email, but again, I am only throwing the option out there for the kids. I appologize if some think it is a stupid idea, but I think it would be a great idea and experience for kids to look forward to year after year.

I have already had several contact me with positive ideas about it from MN, so thank you to those who are positive about opportunities for kids. Good luck to all the teams this weekend in the Meltdown.
Sorry WJB, I couldn't resist taking a shot at our neighbors in WI..... I do believe it would be somewhat of a mismatch however. WI typically has 2 or 3 kids per age group that are very good players that can compete with the best in North America..... The problem is depth, players 4-13 in Minny are a lot better...... For whatever reason, WI smack dab in the middle of two great hockey states still lose their best athletes to basketball in the winter....

Perhaps I misunderstand what you are saying but I think I have to disagree. While I do agree that Minnesota could probably put together several teams of equal magnitude and that overall depth is vastly greater in Minnesota we are talking about a single team. Because Wisconsin's best players are spread out all over the state putting together the "best" team is difficult at the youth levels (a little eaiser at the high school levels) where as because of overall depth you could do one just in the Metro area. However, theoretically if you could put together the "best" team from Wisconsin (just one team, 15 skaters and two goalies) I think the match up would be pretty even. You are correct about depth in one sense but I think you are overstating it by limiiting it to 3 or 4 players, that is silly. Again Minne could probably put together 3 or 4 of these teams and Wisky only one but we are only talking about ONE team here and that's a huge difference. As fr the comment about being sadnwhiched in between two great hockey states. Yes Minne and Michigan are fantastic hockey states but Minnesota has the great hockey history and is an anomoly in it's percentage of population participating in the sport (no one else has that), with Michigan they actually have about the same percentage of their population participating in the sprot as Wisconsin but the difference is they have twice the population and hence a little over twice as many kids playing the sport. It's not AS MUCH about losing kids to basketball as it is we do not have the tradition of Minnesota or the population of the other big hockey states. In order the states with the largest numbers of USA Hockey registered players are:

Michigan (50,000+)
Minnesota (50,000+)
New York (44,000+)
Massachussetts (41,000+)
Illinois (22,000+)
California (21,000+)
Wisconsin (17,000+)
Pennsylvania (15,000+)

By just pure numbers Wisconsin is the 7th largest hockey state in the country. Look at the states listed above and consider (aside from Minnesota, the exception to the rule) how vastly larger the populations of those other states are compared to Wisconsin, when taken into consideration Wisconsin actually is doimg well and continues to grow.

buzzsaw · Post by **buzzsaw** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 3:14 pm

WJB, do you think your 99 Min/Wis team has a chance against Machine?

MoreCowBell · Post by **MoreCowBell** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 5:10 pm

I'm from MN and I think Wisc. would fare just fine, you have to remember most of the best Wisc. kids play tier 1 and would be quite capable of competing with MN's top players. I just saw the 96 Jr. Badgers play and they would smoke the 96 Machine.

JSR · Post by **JSR** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 10:06 am

buzzsaw wrote:WJB, do you think your 99 Min/Wis team has a chance against Machine?

Well I see that the Madison Capitols '99 team played The Machine '99s and only lost 3-2 in the Meltdown Invite tourney and frankly that '99 Caps team is not the best the state of WI has to offer at the '99 level. The Min/Wis all-star team that is created from the best players from the Jr Badgers, Jr North Stars, Jr Hawkeyes and Jr Bulldogs would likely smoke the Machine. That '99 Jr. Badger team that won the Meltdown Open tourney would give the Machine a run for it's money, and if I understand it correctly the Min/Wis team is even better than that since it is an allstar team of sorts.

Wisconsin Coach · Post by **Wisconsin Coach** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 10:44 am

More Jr Badgers/Min/Wisc League Hyperbole!!!! How about showing actual facts that show these super teams can compete with the high level teams.
And don't put down teams like the Capitols, Play them!!!!!
I am sure the 99 Capitols or the 99 Flyers would gladly play a couple games verse your team.
No more speculating just play the game and then post the results.

Night Train · Post by **Night Train** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 10:46 am

Kinda mixing up some definitions here.

The Blades and Machine are teams that have rosters they can send you today. To me that's a definition of a "team." They practice and play together.

Saying you can form a Wisconsin all-star team with kids from all across Wisconsin and smoke a team that has a defined roster is off base. Of course there are a lot of good hockey players in Wisconsin and if you combine them all you'll have a good team. Most the teams in Minnesota have set rosters.

JSR · Post by **JSR** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:22 am

Wisconsin Coach wrote:More Jr Badgers/Min/Wisc League Hyperbole!!!! How about showing actual facts that show these super teams can compete with the high level teams.
And don't put down teams like the Capitols, Play them!!!!!
I am sure the 99 Capitols or the 99 Flyers would gladly play a couple games verse your team.
No more speculating just play the game and then post the results.

No one was putting down the Capitols. Someone needs to take their medication I think. Saying a team is not made up of the "best players in the state" or "isn't the best the state has to offer" is not putting them down, if anything it was actually a compliment to the Caps. Someone is a little sensitive, and way too defensive, I guess we know where his kid plays now. Get a grip, your kid would probably appreciate it. A question was asked, facts of real games were used to answer the question. Wow....

JSR · Post by **JSR** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:24 am

Night Train wrote:Kinda mixing up some definitions here.

The Blades and Machine are teams that have rosters they can send you today. To me that's a definition of a "team." They practice and play together.

Saying you can form a Wisconsin all-star team with kids from all across Wisconsin and smoke a team that has a defined roster is off base. Of course there are a lot of good hockey players in Wisconsin and if you combine them all you'll have a good team. Most the teams in Minnesota have set rosters.

The "allstar" team in question is from one "club" if you will that has four teams, it's not kids from all across Wisconsin. Actually it's not really that different from the Machine, I mean the Machine is basically a AAA team made up of the best kids from 4 other AAA tems, that is o different than what the Min/Wis elite league thing up in northwest Wisconsin are doing. I agree definitions are getting kind of confused but not by me.

Wisconsin Coach · Post by **Wisconsin Coach** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 12:10 pm

OK JSR, just took my medicine, now lets stop your non-complementary complements.

Here is your last rip

Well I see that the Madison Capitols '99 team played The Machine '99s and only lost 3-2 in the Meltdown Invite tourney and frankly that '99 Caps team is not the best the state of WI has to offer at the '99 level.

Well 99 Machine won the tourney, Caps were 1 goal short of the champs. That is a fact, then you down the Caps as if you know anything about Wisconsin 99 level hockey as "not the best" Well that would be your opinion, frankly Capitols ARE the best in Wisconsin, Flyers would be second. The fact is you have not seen many of the 99 teams.

The Min/Wis all-star team that is created from the best players from the Jr Badgers, Jr Gophs, Jr Hawkeyes and Jr Bulldogs would likely smoke the Machine. This is just funny, fact is you don't know what your typing about. You have not seen any of the players or any of the games the North Stars, Hawkeyes or Bulldogs have played in. note to JSR: Jr Gophs, no it's Jr North Stars.

That '99 Jr. Badger team that won the Meltdown Open tourney would give the Machine a run for it's money, and if I understand it correctly the Min/Wis team is even better than that since it is an allstar team of sorts.
Not very likely. We will see at the Stars and Stripes tourney Thursday 7:50 @ MM

JSR · Post by **JSR** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 12:25 pm

Wisconsin Coach wrote:OK JSR, just took my medicine, now lets stop your non-complementary complements.

Here is your last rip

Well I see that the Madison Capitols '99 team played The Machine '99s and only lost 3-2 in the Meltdown Invite tourney and frankly that '99 Caps team is not the best the state of WI has to offer at the '99 level.

Well 99 Machine won the tourney, Caps were 1 goal short of the champs. That is a fact, then you down the Caps as if you know anything about Wisconsin 99 level hockey as "not the best" Well that would be your opinion, frankly Capitols ARE the best in Wisconsin, Flyers would be second. The fact is you have not seen many of the 99 teams.

The Min/Wis all-star team that is created from the best players from the Jr Badgers, Jr Gophs, Jr Hawkeyes and Jr Bulldogs would likely smoke the Machine. This is just funny, fact is you don't know what your typing about. You have not seen any of the players or any of the games the North Stars, Hawkeyes or Bulldogs have played in. note to JSR: Jr Gophs, no it's Jr North Stars.

That '99 Jr. Badger team that won the Meltdown Open tourney would give the Machine a run for it's money, and if I understand it correctly the Min/Wis team is even better than that since it is an allstar team of sorts.
Not very likely. We will see at the Stars and Stripes tourney Thursday 7:50 @ MM

It wasn't a rip, it wasn't meant as a rip it, wasn't stated as a rip. It was posted in the context of defending Wisconsin hockey in general. The fact you tok it as a rip is your own insecure problem, not mine. That said I've seen quite a few of the '99 level teams, again with the insecurity.

Wisconsin Coach · Post by **Wisconsin Coach** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 12:41 pm

Tell us all then, who do you consider the best 99 team in Wisconsin?

JSR · Post by **JSR** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 12:54 pm

Wisconsin Coach wrote:Tell us all then, who do you consider the best 99 team in Wisconsin?

Without any actual head to head results it is always going to be opinion based. Further I willingly admit I have not seen every single 99 team in the state (but neither have you......). But based on what I've seen and the results that I do have at my disposal from certain tournaments I would go with the Jr. Badgers. Now to be fair 7 of their players are not from Wisconsin so they are not a "purely" Wisconsin team though they are based in Wisconsin. I believe all the 99 Caps are from Wisconsin. Although you seem to believe i have an axe to grind I truly do not, I know many of the players and parents of that 99 Caps team and they are great people and some of those kids are fantastic skaters, you'll never hear me say otherwise despite the words you seem to wish to put in my mouth

minnystate · Post by **minnystate** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 1:04 pm

Who are the best players in that age group?

Wisconsin Coach · Post by **Wisconsin Coach** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 1:30 pm

Opinion based is fine, as long as you state it is "your opinion".

You have seen how many 99 Wisconsin teams?

I have seen Caps, Madison Stars, Jr Badgers, NWW Bucks, WW Blue Devils, Flyers, Green Bay, Appleton Ice, NW Blizzards, most I have seen at least 2 times. I have not seen Blaze or Admirals yet.

Sorry you are so insecure that you feel someone is putting words in your mouth or that you may have an axe to grind. I am just trying to open your eyes to the facts. You are new to AAA hockey and probably need to accumulate more facts.

JSR · Post by **JSR** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 1:43 pm

Wisconsin Coach wrote:Opinion based is fine, as long as you state it is "your opinion".

You have seen how many 99 Wisconsin teams?

I have seen Caps, Madison Stars, Jr Badgers, NWW Bucks, WW Blue Devils, Flyers, Green Bay, Appleton Ice, NW Blizzards, most I have seen at least 2 times. I have not seen Blaze or Admirals yet.

Sorry you are so insecure that you feel someone is putting words in your mouth or that you may have an axe to grind. I am just trying to open your eyes to the facts. You are new to AAA hockey and probably need to accumulate more facts.

What facts? Everything you've stated is all your own opinion as well, which you are also welcome to. As for AAA thanks but your help is unnecessary, I'll be just fine thank you.

Wisconsin Coach · Post by **Wisconsin Coach** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 1:54 pm

Dodge my question! and rip me!!! now now JSR that's not your style, no ripping!!!! Lets see some facts here, list the 99 Wisconsin teams that you have seen play.

BluntInstrument · Post by **BluntInstrument** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 1:55 pm

Wisconsin Coach wrote:Opinion based is fine, as long as you state it is "your opinion".

You have seen how many 99 Wisconsin teams?

I have seen Caps, Madison Stars, Jr Badgers, NWW Bucks, WW Blue Devils, Flyers, Green Bay, Appleton Ice, NW Blizzards, most I have seen at least 2 times. I have not seen Blaze or Admirals yet.

Sorry you are so insecure that you feel someone is putting words in your mouth or that you may have an axe to grind. I am just trying to open your eyes to the facts. You are new to AAA hockey and probably need to accumulate more facts.

All the talk of Jr. Badgers, JR North Stars, Jr Bulldogs, Jr Hawkeyes is not appropriate for this topic since many players on these team's players are not from WI.

JSR · Post by **JSR** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 2:13 pm

Wisconsin Coach wrote:Dodge my question! and rip me!!! now now JSR that's not your style, no ripping!!!! Lets see some facts here, list the 99 Wisconsin teams that you have seen play.

Where did I rip you? Hmmm, interesting, you thought I ripped the Caps when I did not. You now think I ripped you when I did not. Please define what you think ripping is because we obviously have vastly different definitions. FYI, stating on a message board that you may or may not have seen certain teams play is not a "fact". In your own words it's "hyperbole" at it's best.

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